Old Alderman Harbuttle, an elder of Zion Chapel, grew unusually frolicsome at the Anniversary Tea Party, even condescending to lead a game of follow-my-leader round the precincts. In the darkest part of the chapel, however, the revels became a rout, for the Alderman was stabbed to the heart with a bread knife. Superintendent Nankivell, of the local police, eventually solved the mystery, but not before he has stirred up the dark depths of the lives of many of the pillars of Zion.